Appeal launched to keep Spanish Armada maps in UK

A campaign has been launched to stop a collection of rare maps that chart the defeat of the Spanish Armada from being sold overseas.

Ten hand-drawn maps depicting the famous battle of 1588 were sold in July but an export ban was put in place.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in Portsmouth is aiming to raise £600,000 to purchase the maps.

Museum director Prof Dominic Tweddle, said they represented a "defining moment" in England's naval history.

It is believed the drawings, completed by an unknown draughtsman, possibly from the Netherlands, were based on a set of engravings by Elizabethan cartographer Robert Adams.

In the summer of 1588 the Spanish Armada set sail for England after decades of hostility between Spain's catholic King Philip II and the protestant Queen Elizabeth I.

It is remembered as one of the greatest naval battles in history, when the English fleet of 66 ships defeated the Armada, twice its size, by sailing fireships into its formation off Calais.

The ink and watercolour maps depicting the battle were sold earlier this year for £600,000, but culture minister Caroline Dinenage imposed an export ban until January and called for a museum or institution to raise funds to purchase them.

Prof Tweddle said: "They depict a navy and country that defended our shores against a world superpower and are a milestone in the story of England.

"This has been an incredibly tough year for the museum, with our Covid-enforced closure and loss of revenue.

"However, when we learned that the maps could be lost abroad into private hands, we decided we were honour-bound to step in and lead the fight to save them for the nation."

If the appeal is successful, the NMRN said the maps would be put on public display for the first time.